Although Scientific Management allowed Ford to increases productivity so that his Model T was within the reach of the average man, this production system could not survive against later competition from Japanese manufacturing.
Any production line worker can tell you what a soul-destroying and inefficient way of working that is. Its foundation is "every action of the worker is pre-planned and directed by the manager." Workers or "directed labor" are there as human machines, paid to do and not to think. This theory, often referred to as Taylorism, is still applied in many organizations today. Ford’s approach had a strong influence on Taichi Ohno, founder of the Toyota Production System, who in the 1950s provided all Toyota engineers with a copy of Ford’s book, Today and Tomorrow, originally published in 1926 and republished in 2003.įord's management approach was influenced by FW Taylor's theory of Scientific Management, published in 1911. Sorensen's design increased the production rate from one a day to one an hour. Their manufacture was significantly more complex than producing cars and required the design of a new manufacturing system and plant. Ford’s approach to mass production was developed further by his vice president, Charlie Sorensen, for the World War II manufacturer of B 24 Liberator bombers. 1 Offering high wages, Ford attracted some of the best and most innovative mechanics, some of whom conceived and developed the moving assembly line. Henry Ford’s vision was to "build a car for the great multitude." The electrification of previously steam driven machinery together with new management and production techniques enabled him to take 20th century mass production to a new level and to produce a Model T in only 93 minutes. Other examples of early mass production include the mass printing of books starting in the 1400s using Gutenberg's printing press. In the 1500s it is claimed that the Venetian Arsenal was able to produce one galley a day by using assembly line principles and a workforce of up to 16,000. However, many of the ideas behind Lean manufacturing can be traced back 100 years to the production lines of Henry Ford, and even earlier.ĭuring the reign of the first Chinese emperor Qin Shi Huangdi (221 BC), standardization, a key aspect of Lean, was used to manufacture crossbows with standardized parts that could be quickly replaced in battle. Lean production is currently being promoted as a Japanese approach to speed, simplifying and optimizing business processes in every conceivable area from manufacturing cars to treating patients.